It's been a long time.... PC restarting itself

[theeldergeek]

It's been a long time since I built/troubleshooted a PC as I've moved into different areas of responsibility which has taken me away from the basics, so I'm just looking for a troubleshooting memory jog on this one.

 

Have a new built PC here, keeps restarting itself at random intervals. Most likely cause? PSU, mainboard or something else?

Edited December 4, 2010 by theeldergeek

[AWicher]

1st question would be, is it random or are you doing something that requires intense cpu/ram. eg gaming, video rendering, heavy multitasking...

 

Could be temperature relating, getting to hot or your BIOS temp warning set to low?

 

Could be your RAM

 

Or HDD try running a recovery cd (Spinrite…)

 

P.s driver problem, done an update lately?

Edited December 4, 2010 by AWicher

[witch]

or a virus...or the power supply..

[Jaymate]

Or maybe firmware on mboard.

[CESIL]

If windows is crashing with BSOD it could be rebooting itself.

 

Turn off auto reboot and you might see what the error message is...

[witch]

If windows is crashing with BSOD it could be rebooting itself.

 

Turn off auto reboot and you might see what the error message is...

 

 

oh there's clever, isn't it

[theeldergeek]

Thanks folks, it appears it was the PSU. Changed it over and bench tested the machine which has been stable for a good 48 hours now. Some good reminders of troubleshooting methods though, pleased to say it all came flooding back!

[witch]

Thanks folks, it appears it was the PSU. Changed it over and bench tested the machine which has been stable for a good 48 hours now. Some good reminders of troubleshooting methods though, pleased to say it all came flooding back!

 

I got it right, I got it right.....

 

 

*edit - sorry, feeling a little frivolous today..